We have a new Doo Dah Queen
UPDATE!!!!!!!!!! BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BROKEN!!!!!!!!!! SEE THE COMMENTS!!!
Oh, Sarah and John didn’t win. They lost AGAIN! I guess it’s just a losing ticket this year. Cheese and crackers.
Richard Yaussi, my favorite photog on the Flickr machine was there. I was there in spirit (cough) only.
The new queen is from Orange County:
Caroline An covered the story in the MSM (that stands for mainstream media) and SGV (that stands for syrupinated gotcha viking) Tribune photog Sarah Reingewirtz got the shots here
xoxoxo to Queen Naughty Mickie of 2008. She was grand and oh so grand was she.
UPDATE!!!!!!!!!! BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BROKEN!!!!!!!!!! SEE THE COMMENTS!!!
The new Queen Skittles has visited this vetty bleg! And, so has the former Queen Naughty!
Oh, the drama!
California! Towers of Gold
How did one Jewish immigrant help create California?
I want to know. (music link: Al Green live via Mlle Gramophone)
Stories of immigrants, the bootstrappers that layed poured the solid foundation of what is California, is a subject of intrigue to me. I know about the native indians, Pio Pico, Father Sera and the missions; the settlers of the state of my birth and home, but I know next to nothing about its financial history.
And, it was financed vetty astutely and with a savage savvy as evinced by the beautiful old architecture still remaining around this town of Pasadena, San Marino, Los Angeles, San Francisco. This kind of architectural genius and superfluous detail does not come cheap, I suspect.
Where does one go to find the scholars of such a thing?
The Huntington Library, Friends Hall to be specific.
This night, this luscious black velvet night, (I am under the influence of Miller Lite) I used my invitation from the astounding techno-goddess Susan Kitchens, to elbow my way into a lecture on this vetty subject. Ms. Kitchens was aghast when I, of all people, showed up. [aside: Did you know they sell jars of clotted English cream in the Huntington gift shop? - and lady bug balls? Hear that docent candidate? oh forgetit]
What a treat it was to hear Ms. Frances Dinkelspiel [Dinkelspiel Family: see Stanford University] tell the tantalizing tidbits of her illustrious great grandfather Hellman’s life, work, and contribution. It is one account that has slipped through the cracks of history for most of us and the missing puzzle piece that breathes life and illumination into what may have seemed to be a simplistic past.
This is a man who dined with presidents, with Mulholland, Collis and Henry Huntington. Isaias Hellman wheeled and dealed, and was one of the most influential and powerful men in California history yet most people have never heard of him. He is of no relation to the mayonnaise Hellmann or the lefty pickled polonaise playwriting Hellman*. He is the prickly pragmatic Cali$ornia Hellman and a Hellman through and through. What an inspiration.
Isn’t the cover beautiful?
Can’t wait to read the meat and potatoes!
The best part was afterward. I horned in on a little “coffee talk” at the Hamburger Hamlet with the author. She answered my weird questions in the most polite way. Ms. Dinkelspiel told us of her research and gave us hints on what is good to remember when writing something that may take years to complete, like keeping footnotes as you go.
What a wonderful, and enriching evening.
I feel wealthy and fortunate even though I am broke and have the dumb.
SATURDAY UPDATE: Frances Dinkelspiel will be interviewed on AirTalk.
Delicious!
* The musical link: “Make Our Garden Grow” is performed by Northwestern State University and from Candide. “Candide, as a musical/opera, has a highly complex history, having gone through multiple alterations since it first premiered in 1956 with a book by Lillian Hellman.”
I’m a paperback writer in a strange land
‘Tis me first chapbook of poetics. Would you like to read it?
